The biggest issue fans of the Bleach manga have with the Thousand-Year Blood War is the rushed pacing and barebones exposition many characters and plot lines have. Due to Tite Kubo’s rapidly declining health, he was unable to write the arc in the way he wanted. He had to rush the story to get to the end he envisioned before his body gave in to his many ailments. The second half of the arc famously suffers from this. Many characters’ fates are left unanswered, many plot points barely get resolved, and character developments are not fully fleshed out.
With Tite Kubo’s involvement in the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime production, he seeks to rectify this problem with the original manga. Working alongside series director Tomohisa Taguchi, he added tons of new scenes to the story that further expanded on what was established in the manga. And the last Quincy, Uryuu Ishida, is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of this.
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Uryuu’s Expanded Scenes in the Anime
More Background for the Face of the Quincy
Manga readers knew that Uryuu Ishida would eventually betray Ichigo and the Gotei 13, but the build-up to this was always very lacking. Readers have barely any explanation behind his betrayal. However, the anime adaptation of Thousand-Year Blood War greatly built on this. Already in part one, Uryuu gets several new scenes, further expanding his involvement with the war. He is shown reading his grandfather’s journal and finding out the truth about the war a thousand years ago. They also imply that his mother might be involved in his father’s motivations to renounce the Quincy.
In part two, he gets even more new scenes, giving him more time with Jugram Haschwalth and the other Sternritters. This further helps the audience think that what they see in him is not what it seems. The audience gets the suspicion that Uryuu might be hiding something. In this way, Jugram acts as the audience, always suspicious of Uryuu. There’s this ever-lingering feeling of something hiding behind Uryuu’s apparent treachery.
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Uryuu’s New Powers in the Anime
A True Quincy
During the Quincy Royal guard’s battle with Senjumaru, Uryuu now displays hints of his newfound ability. Uryuu is now Sternritter A -The Antithesis, an ability that lets him turn the tide of battle in the blink of an eye. And that is exactly how he defeats Senjumaru. Uryuu gets a brand-new battle with Squad 0’s representative. He leaves please a power much beyond anything he had ever shown before which allows him to overcome the soul reaper’s extraordinary world-shattering powers.
And now with the latest episode of the series, he has a completely new battle with his best friend, Ichigo Kurosaki. Here he shows more of that incredible Quincy power he has gained thanks to his king. He can effortlessly conjure and shoot arrows without even manifesting a Quincy bow. And most importantly, he now displays an ability he had never used in the original manga, Vollständig.
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Uryuu’s Vollständig is one of the greatest anime-only additions Tite Kubo has given fans to properly flesh out his beloved characters. Part two gave characters like Shinji Hirako and Senjumaru Shutara brand-new Bankai. The former was already established in the Can’t Feel Your World novels, but the latter had never received such an honor, even in supplementary material. Senjumaru’s Battle with the Royal Guard was completely anime only and so was this new battle between Ichigo and Uryuu.
Tite Kubo and Studio Pierrot continue to blow away fans and everyone’s expectations with each episode of the Thousand-Year Blood War. So far, part three has been a tremendous deviation from the original material in the best way possible. Rather than completely changing the story, the anime has shown completely new material that amplifies the impact and emotional weight of Bleach’s final arc. As well as fleshing out every possible plot point and character that needed help to further deliver the great storytelling that Bleach is known for.
We’re only a few episodes into part three and, as author Tite Kubo said before, this part will see the biggest number of anime-only expansions out of this series. Fans are more excited than ever to see what else will be added to the story with this incredible anime. Right now, the Quincy Survivor is the talk of the town thanks to his extraordinary new scenes and powers.
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Based on Tite Kubo’s battle shonen manga, Bleach centers around Ichigo, a high school student who is dragged into the world of Soul Reapers. The original anime ended in 2012, but it was revived in 2022.
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Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War
